Modomnoc

Saint Modomnoc was an Irish saint of the first half of the sixth century, a disciple of Saint David of Wales, bishop of Ossory and patron of bees and beekeepers. He fell asleep in the Lord around the year 550.

He came from a noble family, the O'Neills of Ulster in northern Ireland. From youth he wished to serve God and went to struggle as a monk at the monastery of Mynyw in Wales (now Saint David's), under the guidance of Abbot David. His obedience was the care of the monastery's bees, and Modomnoc loved it greatly. He spoke to the bees, which swarmed around him all the time without ever stinging him, and at the end of summer they gave him so much honey that he needed help to carry it to the monastery. The other monks feared the bees and avoided the corner of the garden where they lived, but they never stung Modomnoc.

After some years he decided to return to Ireland. The day before leaving he said farewell to the abbot and the brothers, and came to the garden to say farewell to the bees, his dearest friends. They flew out of their hives and with a loud buzzing began to circle around the Saint. The next day, when the ship was at sea, he saw a small black cloud coming from the Welsh coast: it was the bees of all the monastery's hives, which settled joyfully on their master's boat. Out of pity for the monks who would be left without honey, Modomnoc commanded them to go back, but they would not obey, and the frightened sailors begged him to decide quickly. He sailed back to Wales. The abbot told him to leave again in the morning without saying farewell, but the event repeated: after three miles the bees caught up with him. Then Saint David said: "Modomnoc, I give you these bees. Take them with my blessing. I see that they cannot live without you." He asked the sailors to take them, and Saint David told him that the bees would do the sailors no harm as long as he was on board. Modomnoc made a shelter for the bees on the boat, and they moved there patiently until the end of the voyage.

Arriving in Ireland, he built a church at Bremore near Balbriggan, in present-⁠day County Dublin, and beside it, according to tradition, he placed his bees in hives, in a garden like the one at Mynyw. The place is known today as "the beekeeper's church". The Irish believe that bees and beekeeping came to their land through Saint Modomnoc. In Ireland he worked as a missionary and served as bishop of Ossory. According to one tradition he ended his days as a hermit at Tibraghny in the south-⁠west of present-⁠day County Kilkenny, where he was especially venerated. He is commemorated on 13 February.